This morning, the US government sold platinum coins on the US Mint website at a price of $2,345 per ounce.

At 6:30 AM Eastern Time, platinum prices surged above $2,345 per ounce, reaching a high of $2,470 per ounce by 10:15 AM Eastern Time.

However, the US continued to sell these coins at $2,345 each, about 5% below market price.

After traders realized this, they began buying these coins and then selling them at prices about 5% higher.

Depending on how many coins were sold before the US Mint discovered the issue, this could have caused the US millions of dollars in losses.

The rise in precious metal prices has entered the US government’s “arbitrage” mode.

Even the US Mint did not anticipate this situation.